Nina Acosta

Last night was the two hour finale of Survivor, and it’s a battle among the last ladies standing. Jeff Probst recaps the season’s highlights, including Colton Cumbie’s rise to power and prompt demise and the ladies’ ultimate come back.

It’s the thirty-sixth night on the beach, and the women have voted off the last man. Alicia is very confident in her friendship with Kim, but I think she may be tooting her own horn a tad too early. The following day, Sabrina and Kim collect the tree-mail. Kim approaches Sabrina about voting off Chelsea next, as she’s worried Chelsea will garner lots of jury votes. While she plays cool, Sabrina is shocked that Kim is targeting her best friend because she’s popular with the castoffs. However, it does make the likeable Sabrina wonder if she’s next on the chopping block. No one is worried about the jury voting for Alicia and Christina. I have now decided I either want Chelsea or Sabrina to win. Only took me an entire season to make that wishy washy determination…

The immunity challenge is pretty intense. After untying several knotted ropes to get through a makeshift gate, each player must race along a balance beam maze, and must start back at the beginning in the event they fall. After the maze, they will traverse a giant rope net collecting bags of (what else?) puzzle pieces. The assembled puzzles will give three number clues the women must use to unlock a combination which will free their flags. Christina is the first out of the gate, followed by Kim. They are also the first to fall off to start again. Alicia finishes the maze first with Chelsea right on her heels. Chelsea is the first to collect her bags, but everyone is neck and neck on the puzzle. Sabrina falls behind, but Kim and Chelsea are neck and neck. Kim assembles her puzzle first, followed by Alicia. Kim can’t get her combination right, and after multiple tries, she returns to the puzzle. Alicia follows suit. Kim, Chelsea, and Alicia are all up working on their combinations at the same time, and Kim finally gets it right, winning immunity.

After last week’s blindside, last night’s Survivor episode assured us that finally-FINALLY-the remaining castaways are playing the game.

After Kat gets the shaft, the women (and Tarzan) are laughing on the beach about her final words. Tarzan has a master plan he’s unwilling to share, but he approaches Kim about her strategy. He promises to get the jury to vote for her if she ends up in the final three with Alicia and Christina. Of course, that means that Kim has to vote off her biffle Chelsea. Tarzan is all about the mind games.

Chelsea believes the game is three-on-three: Chelsea, Kim, and Sabrina versus Christina, Alicia, and Tarzan. Chelsea thinks it is funny that Christina’s trio thinks that Kim is joining their alliance. Poor Chelsea. Chelsea tries to sway Christina to further her threesome, but Christina runs back to camp to relay everything she heard to Kim and Tarzan. Kim, of course, tells Chelsea that Christina turned on her immediately after their conversation. Chelsea is pissed, and Kim is getting exhausted trying to play both sides.

Last night’s Survivor was clearly ladies’ night, as Tarzan is the only man left.

We learn that Troyzan whispered “do it” to Kat as he was leaving. Kat is befuddled…does he think she’s going to go against her alliance? Well, someone’s going to have to do it! Alicia thinks that Christina’s ramblings during tribal council only show how wishy washy and weak she is. Alicia thinks Christina needs to stick around a while, but she is starting to feel threatened by the amount of power Sabrina seems to have garnered. Alicia sees herself as a puppet master, poisoning the other women against Sabrina.

On last night’s Survivor the women continued to reign supreme, while Troyzan tried his best to win allies with his mind games.

Tarzan finally realizes that two boys are left compared to six girls so he needs to get on the women’s good side. Kim hates being portrayed as the women’s leader, but she’s happy that Christina and Alicia didn’t fall for Troyzan’s master plan that could have easily taken down the women.

Tree-mail arrives, and it’s more cryptic than ever. Of course, Kat figures she’s safe if she can just solidify her lady vote. At the reward challenge, Jeff Probst poses a series of questions which can be answered with the name of a remaining teammate, and the major obstacle is figuring out how each of their tribe mates will vote. If a player is wrong in guessing what the other tribe mates thought, a rope attached to a voodoo doll with their likeness will be chopped. One too many chops and it’s bye-bye voodoo doll! The winner wins a fantasy picnic on an isle far, far away.

After Model Jay was sent packing last week, the division between the men and the women was as evident as ever on last night’s Survivor. Troyzan knows he’s likely next on the chopping block. He gets in a verbal altercation with Alicia after Christina didn’t keep her word to him. From here on out, it’s Troyzan versus the world!

Troyzan is so peeved, and he likens the women to gold-digging divorcees. He perks up considerably when he finds cash in the tree-mail. The tribe learns that they will be able to use their money at an auction. Each teammate has $500, and each bid must be in $20 increments. Tribe members may not pool their money. Jeff Probst recommends that if someone sees something they like, they should bid immediately as the auction could end at any time.

The first items up for bid are some frosted donuts and iced coffee. For a mere $160, Chelsea wins it. Kat starts the bidding for chips, guacamole, and a margarita at one hundred smackers. She and Sabrina get into a bidding war, with Sabrina takes a long swig of that margarita for the low price of four hundred dollars. A protein shake and some bananas are next…Lief wins after again bidding against Kat. I think she just wants to buy something, regardless of what it is. Alicia bids $20 for a shower with shampoo and a toothbrush, but Kim takes it for forty. The tribe watches as she slips out of her skivvies and starts brushing her teeth.

Christina bids $40 on a BLT with an iced tea. Kat immediately counters with one hundred dollars. I am really starting to get the feeling she doesn’t know how this works. She ends up paying $180 for the sandwich. A hot ticket item is next—peanut butter and chocolate. Kim leaves her shower, covered in soap, to outbid Alicia. She snacks on her peanut butter from the shower. Everyone gets teary when Jeff announces a letter from home is up next. I bet Sabrina is second guessing her $400 tequila shot right about now. Alicia opens and closes the bidding with all her money. I guess she grew a heart when Colton left! Everyone who has their full pot can purchase their letter. Tarzan can barely talk when he goes to retrieve his letter.

Last night’s Survivor was just another cut-throat edition of boys against the girls, with the girls winning…as we always do. 🙂

At the merged Tikiano, Model Jay seems to be down with the ladies while Tarzan shares with Troyzan his fears about the gender breakdown. Troyzan knows he has an immunity idol, yet he reminds Tarzan that it’s still to be retrieved. The group goes to find tree-mail, but instead is met with a chalk board, some pegs and logs, and a letter which is not to be opened until everyone is together. The tribe must divide themselves into two teams and finish the intricate challenge. The winners will be rewarded with a boat ride and a barbeque festival…where do I sign up?

The group decides that the fairest course is to randomly draw names. The first team is Troy, Jay, Alicia, Kat, and Tarzan. The second team is Lief and the remaining ladies. Troyzan elects himself to be host of the game. Oh gracious…this is ladder ball, or ladder golf, or horse balls…regardless I have played this game multiple times on Sullivans’ Island. I am about as good at it as the castaways, which reads to be HORRIBLE. Somehow the “red” team wins, even though both groups had poor showings. Regardless, the red team is treated to an amazing feast.

Last night’s Survivor was a tad boring, if I do say so myself. I can’t keep up with legitimate, semi-legitmate, and totally false alliances. Who knew I’d be wishing Colton Cumbiewas around to liven up this purely strategic mess? I take that back…I’m glad he’s gone, but the remainder of this season is going to drag. I usually have someone I am rooting for by this point, but…

The merged Tikiano is back at the beach after tribal council. Troyzan and Model Jay are sad to see Jonas go. Troyzan knows that the men’s former alliance has been upset by some of the guys’ loyalty to the Salani. After a discussion with Jay, the two men seem to be back to the boys versus girls mentality. The pair finds a message in a 7 Up bottle as tree-mail. From the cryptic letter, it seems the winner of the reward challenge will get their fill of the un-cola. #productplacement

The reward challenge involves each member on the chosen tribes to go down a super steep water slide and then head into the ocean to retrieve boxes that will ultimately be connected as a puzzle. The winning tribe will be whisked to a 7 Up oasis…only Jeff Probstcould make that sound so sexy. The winners will partake in barbecue, burgers, key lime pie, and, of course, all the 7 Up they can drink. To whet the teams pallets, each player is given a taste of the citrus beverage. It’s “school-yard pick” as to who is on which team. The first group is Jay Byars, Kat Edorsson, Troyzan, Alicia Rosa, and Chelsea Meissner versus everyone else…except Tarzan. He wasn’t picked.

Knowing that last night’s episode of Survivor was Colton-free, did you feel better about tuning in to watch?

The now merged tribe celebrates with champagne and cheese back at the beach. Everyone seems to be happy that it’s every player for themselves. Alicia is appalled to think that Christina is still in the game. Let the backstabbing begin! The following morning, Jonas is impressing the women with his culinary skills. Model Jay denies Tarzan some coffee, with Jay informing him that the coffee is only for the people who won it in the last challenge.

What? Tarzan can’t believe his former dude teammate isn’t reverting back to the guys versus the girls alliances. He approaches Mike about getting the gang back together, as the men and women are equal in numbers. Tarzan promises a female defector in the form of Alicia to create a stronger voting pool. Sure, yeah, sounds good, says Mike, who trusts Tarzan about as far as he can throw him. Interesting…it seems the most recent winners don’t want to play the way of the middle school dance with boys on one side and girls on the other.